It probably depends a lot about playing styles too.

Quote Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9
Thief/Ninja- can equip decent equipment, but even the redmage can equip better swords than a thief until class change. Thieves can run well, but I never run because EXP is a must in this game.
I run away from battles a lot because there's many enemies that aren't just worth fighting, those that can poison, petrify or paralyze you, and those that can kill you very quickly (Sorcerers, Mages etc). I think surviving dungeons is a must in this game. As for EXP, there's a plenty of ways to get some.

BB/Master- Best with bare hands, giving you 4 extra weapon spaces, so you can have more of those special weapons for fighters. The bare hands get to be really powerful and they're cheap to equip, by far the cheapest in the game. Low defense though.
And BB's low defence is what makes him expensive since you'll have to keep healing him and dragging him to the Clinic.

I guess I just prefer variety to being good in only attack power, which is watered down in non-NES versions and loses to Fighter/Knight anyway.